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If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln
If you grew up with Abraham Lincoln
--Would you have to work hard?
--What kinds of games would you play?
--What would your school be like?
This book tells you what it was like to grow up on the frontiers of Kentucky and Indiana, in the prairie town of New Salem, Illinois, and in the city of Springfield, Illinois, during the early 1800s.
--Would you have to work hard?
--What kinds of games would you play?
--What would your school be like?
This book tells you what it was like to grow up on the frontiers of Kentucky and Indiana, in the prairie town of New Salem, Illinois, and in the city of Springfield, Illinois, during the early 1800s.
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
2 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
Ann McGovern
112 books51 followersAnn McGovern Scheiner (née Weinberger) was an American writer of more than 55 children's books, selling over 30 million copies. She may be best known for her adaptation of Stone Soup, as well as Too Much Noise, historical and travel non-fiction, and biographies of figures like Harriet Tubman and Deborah Sampson Gannett and Eugenie Clark.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 11, 2013
“If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln” is a pleasant surprise. This 1966 school book was free at a garage sale and isn’t about presidency but Abraham’s environment. Canada had similarities in food, weather, early structures, clothing, and geography. Ann McGovern elaborates upon our conceptualization of how daily pioneer life was. I was most struck by rudimentary clothes, classroom dynamics, and houses without windows or doors.
Abraham’s mother passed away and a new Mrs. Lincoln was stauncher about cracks being filled and mattresses deriving from something more civilized than corn silks. I was astonished that when Mr. Lincoln fashioned a door, hinges weren’t metal but leather. Their floor was earth, replaced by wood at her request. It appears that with an effort, it was possible for the ambitious to live less primitively. I’m aware even in my parents’ youth, many weren’t schooled to grade 12. In Abraham’s day, literacy was rare. Teachers were merely the most eligible adult and the school, one room, miles away. I knew all ages studied together, winter attendance highest because food harvesting came first. I’m shocked that writing and mathematics were learned with a charcoaled stick scribbling on a shovel, or drawing in the dirt.
It said volumes that Abraham’s writing was so neat, his townspeople asked him to do their letters. I knew post offices ran without stamps at first. I didn’t know people travelled by water wherever possible. There were tracks on the east coast, where North Americans settled first but trains and sizable towns trickled westward much later. Today it’s seldom that families do more than mend clothes. If they did, they’d buy thread and fabric. It is hard to imagine creating the basics ourselves. We buy completely finished products regularly. This lesson book was well done. I like it a lot.
Abraham’s mother passed away and a new Mrs. Lincoln was stauncher about cracks being filled and mattresses deriving from something more civilized than corn silks. I was astonished that when Mr. Lincoln fashioned a door, hinges weren’t metal but leather. Their floor was earth, replaced by wood at her request. It appears that with an effort, it was possible for the ambitious to live less primitively. I’m aware even in my parents’ youth, many weren’t schooled to grade 12. In Abraham’s day, literacy was rare. Teachers were merely the most eligible adult and the school, one room, miles away. I knew all ages studied together, winter attendance highest because food harvesting came first. I’m shocked that writing and mathematics were learned with a charcoaled stick scribbling on a shovel, or drawing in the dirt.
It said volumes that Abraham’s writing was so neat, his townspeople asked him to do their letters. I knew post offices ran without stamps at first. I didn’t know people travelled by water wherever possible. There were tracks on the east coast, where North Americans settled first but trains and sizable towns trickled westward much later. Today it’s seldom that families do more than mend clothes. If they did, they’d buy thread and fabric. It is hard to imagine creating the basics ourselves. We buy completely finished products regularly. This lesson book was well done. I like it a lot.
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November 27, 2018informational book about what it was like to grow up in the early 1800's that also includes information about Abe Lincoln's life. Good for older elementary.
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December 18, 2012I don't review every children's book I read, but this is a far-sighted work, written sometimes in the second person, sometimes in the third:
Paper cost too much to use for practice. If you wanted to practice writing, you would do the same thing Abe Lincoln did. He wrote with a stick in the dirt. And he wrote on a wooden shovel with a burnt stick. When the shovel was covered with letters, Abe scraped them off and began writing again.
That's under the heading "How would you practice writing and arithmetic?" In its simple, 1966 way, ... If You Grew up with Abraham Lincoln is classically written. Ann McGovern was an amateurish poet, but like many a weak poet, developed a commanding prose. (Another example is Abraham Lincoln.)
Ann tells a lot, in a subtle way:
Men hunted deer and used the deerskins to make pants and jackets and shoes. They called the deerskin buckskin.
Women knitted woolen socks for the whole family. They made linen yarn and wool yarn on their spinning wheels. Then they wove the yarns into a rough cloth called linsey-woolsey.
In winter, Abe and the other boys on the frontier wore linsey-woolsey shirts, buckskin pants called breeches, buckskin jackets, and buckskin moccasins. A coonskin cap with a tail hanging down the back kept a boy's head warm.
Men were covered almost entirely with animal hide! Deer, raccoon and the wool of sheep provided most of their wardrobe. Only a little flax infiltrated their garments.
I even enjoy the lumpy illustrations by George Ulrich, circa 1992 -- but I'd probably prefer the staid originals.
Paper cost too much to use for practice. If you wanted to practice writing, you would do the same thing Abe Lincoln did. He wrote with a stick in the dirt. And he wrote on a wooden shovel with a burnt stick. When the shovel was covered with letters, Abe scraped them off and began writing again.
That's under the heading "How would you practice writing and arithmetic?" In its simple, 1966 way, ... If You Grew up with Abraham Lincoln is classically written. Ann McGovern was an amateurish poet, but like many a weak poet, developed a commanding prose. (Another example is Abraham Lincoln.)
Ann tells a lot, in a subtle way:
Men hunted deer and used the deerskins to make pants and jackets and shoes. They called the deerskin buckskin.
Women knitted woolen socks for the whole family. They made linen yarn and wool yarn on their spinning wheels. Then they wove the yarns into a rough cloth called linsey-woolsey.
In winter, Abe and the other boys on the frontier wore linsey-woolsey shirts, buckskin pants called breeches, buckskin jackets, and buckskin moccasins. A coonskin cap with a tail hanging down the back kept a boy's head warm.
Men were covered almost entirely with animal hide! Deer, raccoon and the wool of sheep provided most of their wardrobe. Only a little flax infiltrated their garments.
I even enjoy the lumpy illustrations by George Ulrich, circa 1992 -- but I'd probably prefer the staid originals.
November 19, 2012
Summary: This was a wonderful informational book about the life of Abraham Lincoln. This book is meant for third graders and above. It describes the life in Kentucky, Indiana, New Salem and Springfield Illinois in the eighteen hundreds. The story is divided into three sections. Each section starts with a question. The three questions are: Would you have to work hard? What kind of games would you play? What would your school be like? These are three questions that relate to children and get them interested. The sections describe how these different things were during the eighteen hundreds and during the time of Abraham Lincoln. The story not only informs children about Abe Lincoln's life and importance but also about a lot of different things that were happening in the 1800s.
Setting: Kentucky, Indiana, New Salem, Springfield IL
Main Characters: Abraham Lincoln
Classroom Uses/Themes: I would definitely use this in a classroom of second grade or higher. I think that the three questions that are asked in the story are perfect in order to relate to the children's lives. Children do not get interested in pieces of history, usually so this book did a really great job. I would relate to things such as Abraham Lincoln, life in the 1800s, family bonds, education, etc.
POV: third person
Scholastic Level 3.5
Setting: Kentucky, Indiana, New Salem, Springfield IL
Main Characters: Abraham Lincoln
Classroom Uses/Themes: I would definitely use this in a classroom of second grade or higher. I think that the three questions that are asked in the story are perfect in order to relate to the children's lives. Children do not get interested in pieces of history, usually so this book did a really great job. I would relate to things such as Abraham Lincoln, life in the 1800s, family bonds, education, etc.
POV: third person
Scholastic Level 3.5
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July 11, 2011Part of the If You series by Scholastic, If You Grew Up with Abraham Lincoln looks into the life of our 16th president. Written in a question and answer format, children learn about the different aspects of daily life in the 1800s. They learn about different kinds of furniture, whether they would attend school, what kinds of clothes they might wear, and a variety of other topics. With a table of contents with each question found in the book, it makes it easy for children to find the information they are looking for. Children will be amazed between the differences in their present day lives with the time when Abraham Lincoln lived. It's a great source of information for those just learning about the past.
April 7, 2009
This non-fiction picture book covers what life would be like during the times and various places that Abraham Lincoln lived. What people wore, how they shopped, what they would do for fun, methods of travel, their chores and other interesting facts. In the end there is a nice comparison on the progress and changes that were made from the time Lincoln was born in 1809 until he became president in 1861. This book is a bit to long to share with a student or students in just one setting, but could be easily gone over in a two or three day lesson plan.
October 21, 2014
Overall I thought that this book was good. I think it covered some main points in Abe's time. It discussed life for him like where he lived, what he did, and even discussed presidency. I think this book is great for students that just want to learn some facts but also get them to ask questions. This book made me think about how I would survive during that time or what I would think or do. I don't know if I would really recommend this book. I think it does a good job at explaining but it was not my favorite.
January 4, 2020
A false narrative. This book only serves for the purpose of teaching children about myths, Lincoln's Log Cabin in Kentucky. Most importantly, Native Americans, African Americans & Slavery are left out of American History timelines. Tokenism.
The only time Native Americans are mentioned is on page 50 and unfortunately, it's only to portray them in a negative light, "Old Granny Spears would tell you about the time she was stolen by the Indians when she was a young girl."
my rating: negative stars
The only time Native Americans are mentioned is on page 50 and unfortunately, it's only to portray them in a negative light, "Old Granny Spears would tell you about the time she was stolen by the Indians when she was a young girl."
my rating: negative stars
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February 23, 2016If Your Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln is an interesting book that talks about the life you would live if you grew up with Abraham. This book covers Abrahams life and the different things he did.
I like this book for all its different types of ideas for how life was lived back then.
I believe that this would be a good, instructional book for my students that I could possibility teach out of when we cover presidents and/or historical lifestyles.
I like this book for all its different types of ideas for how life was lived back then.
I believe that this would be a good, instructional book for my students that I could possibility teach out of when we cover presidents and/or historical lifestyles.
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December 1, 2014Interest Level: grades 2-5
Lexile Reading Level: AD670L
This informational text asks and answers many common questions that a child would ask themselves if they grew up with Abraham Lincoln. This book is great to share with an entire class and can serve as in introduction to the reading strategy of questioning.
Lexile Reading Level: AD670L
This informational text asks and answers many common questions that a child would ask themselves if they grew up with Abraham Lincoln. This book is great to share with an entire class and can serve as in introduction to the reading strategy of questioning.
February 11, 2012
grades 2-5
A story about Abraham Lincoln's boyhood. I would read this book or recommend it to my readers during the celebrations for president's day.
A story about Abraham Lincoln's boyhood. I would read this book or recommend it to my readers during the celebrations for president's day.
May 29, 2013
Dry, earnest descriptions paired w/ wonderful simple charcoal illustrations.
September 20, 2013
A good introduction to Lincoln, but more so to the way of life from Abraham's birth to his presidency.
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June 12, 2015You might also want to read "Runaway Slave: The Story of Harriet Tubman"
January 7, 2021
My first graders do very well getting their first tastes of history out of these books. I’m always amazed at how much they retain and are able to compare between the different books. Each takes as around a week. Though there are no chapters, the books are split up into sections of questions that get answered, making many natural stopping points throughout the book. The illustrations are always of interest, and some of them inject a bit of humor.
August 17, 2019
This book reads like a brief introduction of Abe Lincoln's life. I wish the book has more illustrations, but overall, it's a goob book for children.
December 27, 2019
Visited the Lincoln cabin Hodgensville, Ky as a fourth or fifth grader growing up in rural Kentucky. This was a standard tip for many school kid during the 1960's and 1970's.
June 3, 2015
What life was like then and there.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews